C2: ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS amount of unhappiness or dissatisfaction it
produces.
- Utilitarianism is not a theory of calculated
A MORAL DEBATE: RIGHTS AND JUSTICE selfishness.
- It is a theory that says that we should strive to
- Judgments about justice are based on ethical do what is best for everyone in society, and
principles that identify just and unjust ways of that we do what is best for everyone when we
distributing benefits and burdens among the take into account all the beneficial and costly
members of a society consequences of our actions and choose the
- Judgments about human rights are based on action with the greatest net benefits or lowest
ethical principles that advocate respect for net costs.
people’s freedom and well-being. - Utilitarian is the right course of action is the
A MORAL DEBATE: UTILITARIANISM, CARING AND one that produces the greatest positive or
VIRTUE least negative amount of utility.
- Utilitarianism is about maximizing the god and
minimizing the bad. 2.2.2: TRADITIONAL UTILITARIANISM
- Ethics of virtue refers to the character traits - British philosophers Jeremy Bentham (1748–
attributed to people. 1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) are
generally considered the founders of
traditional utilitarianism.
2.2: UTILITARIANISM: WEIGHING SOCIAL COSTS AND - They wanted to develop an ethical principle
BENEFITS that could provide a publicly acceptable basis
for determining the best social policies, as
well as the ethically best courses of action.
UTILITARIANISM (CONSEQUENTIALIST) - The most promising approach to such an
objective decision-making ideal, they
- is a general term for the view that actions and
believed, was one based on the objectively
policies should be evaluated on the basis of
ascertainable beneficial and harmful
the benefits and costs they produce for
consequences of actions.
everyone in society who is affected by those
- The right action from an ethical point of view,
actions or policies.
they argued, would be the one that had the
- Utilitarianism holds that the morally right
most beneficial consequences for society or
course of action in any situation is the one
that at least minimized the harmful
that, when compared with all other possible
consequences.
actions, will produce the greatest balance of
- Mill expressed the idea in the following words:
benefits over costs for everyone affected.
“actions are right in proportion as they tend to
- This approach is sometimes referred to as a
promote happiness, wrong as they tend to
consequentialist approach to ethics because
produce the reverse of happiness.”
it focuses on whether the consequences of
- The right course of action is the one that will
our actions are good or bad.
produce the greatest amount of good for
everyone when compared with all the other
alternative courses of action; but if every
2.2.1: UTILITARIANISM AND FORD MOTOR
available course of action does more harm
COMPANY’S PINTO
than good, then the right action will be the
- Benefits and costs do not have to be one that will produce the least harm.
measured in monetary terms. Some - We can use the term UTILITY to refer to the
utilitarians have argued, for example, that an result of combining the beneficial and costly
action’s benefits should be measured by the consequences of an action.
amount of happiness or satisfaction the
The utilitarian approach can be summarized as
action produces, and its costs in terms of the
follows:
, An action is right from an ethical point of view, if and ARE ALL GOODS COMMENSURABLE?
only if, the net sum of utilities produced by that
- The utilitarian assumption that all benefits are
action is greater than the net sum of utilities
measurable implies that all benefits can be
produced by any other action the agent could have
traded for equivalents of each other.
performed in its place.
- In other words, all goods are commensurable:
- The beneficial consequences of an action for a given quantity of one good, there is
constitute its positive utility, while its costly some quantity of any other good that you
consequences comprise its negative utility. should see as equal in value to the first good.
- Notice, also, that the utilitarian principle - NON-ECONOMIC GOODS – enjoyment of love,
assumes that we can measure and add freedom, health, and parenthood.
together the quantities of benefits produced
2.2.5: UTILITARIAN REPLIES TO MEASUREMENT
by an action and then measure and subtract
OBJECTIONS
from those benefits the quantities of harms or
costs the action will produce. - Use estimates if exact measurements are
unavailable.
- Assign greater value to intrinsic goods than to
2.2.3: THE ADVANTAGES OF UTILITARIANISM instrumental goods.
- Assign greater value to satisfying needs than
UTILITARIANISM AND ECONOMICS
satisfying wants.
- Utilitarianism is also the basis of economic - Use monetary values.
cost-benefit analysis. This type of analysis is
used to determine the desirability of investing
money in a project (such as a dam, a factory 2.2.6: UTILITARIAN PROBLEMS WITH RIGHTS AND
improvement, a financial investment, or a JUSTICE
public park). It entails figuring out whether
the project’s present and future economic
benefits outweigh its costs and comparing this - The major difficulty with utilitarianism,
finding to the costs and benefits of other ways according to some critics, is that it is unable to
of investing the money deal with two kinds of moral issues: those
- Utilitarianism fits nicely with a value that related to rights and those related to justice.
many people prize: EFFICIENCY
- EFFICIENCY – it means that operating in the
manner that produces the most from a given JUSTICE AND UTILITARIANISM
number of resources, or that produces a
desired output with the lowest resource input. - Utilitarianism looks only at how much utility is
- If we read “desired output” in the place of produced in a society and fails to take into
“benefits” and “resource input” in place of account how that utility is distributed among
“cost,” utilitarianism implies that the right the members of society.
course of action is always the most efficient - Critics say that not all values can be measured
one - Utilitarians respond that monetary or other
commonsense criteria can measure
2.2.4: UTILITARIANISM’S MEASUREMENT PROBLEMS everything.
- One major set of problems with utilitarianism - Critics say utilitarianism fails with rights and
is centered on the difficulties of trying to justice.
measure utility. 2.2.7: UTILITARIAN REPLIES TO OBJECTIONS ON
- Even Mill and Bentham, the two founders of RIGHTS AND JUSTICE
utilitarianism, seem to have moved between
claiming that happiness is the only true good - RULE-UTILITARIANISM - is to limit utilitarian
and unhappiness the only true evil, and analysis to the evaluation of moral rules.
claiming that pleasure is the only true good - According to the rule-utilitarian, when trying
and pain the only true evil. to determine whether a particular action is
ethical, one is never supposed to ask whether
produces.
- Utilitarianism is not a theory of calculated
A MORAL DEBATE: RIGHTS AND JUSTICE selfishness.
- It is a theory that says that we should strive to
- Judgments about justice are based on ethical do what is best for everyone in society, and
principles that identify just and unjust ways of that we do what is best for everyone when we
distributing benefits and burdens among the take into account all the beneficial and costly
members of a society consequences of our actions and choose the
- Judgments about human rights are based on action with the greatest net benefits or lowest
ethical principles that advocate respect for net costs.
people’s freedom and well-being. - Utilitarian is the right course of action is the
A MORAL DEBATE: UTILITARIANISM, CARING AND one that produces the greatest positive or
VIRTUE least negative amount of utility.
- Utilitarianism is about maximizing the god and
minimizing the bad. 2.2.2: TRADITIONAL UTILITARIANISM
- Ethics of virtue refers to the character traits - British philosophers Jeremy Bentham (1748–
attributed to people. 1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) are
generally considered the founders of
traditional utilitarianism.
2.2: UTILITARIANISM: WEIGHING SOCIAL COSTS AND - They wanted to develop an ethical principle
BENEFITS that could provide a publicly acceptable basis
for determining the best social policies, as
well as the ethically best courses of action.
UTILITARIANISM (CONSEQUENTIALIST) - The most promising approach to such an
objective decision-making ideal, they
- is a general term for the view that actions and
believed, was one based on the objectively
policies should be evaluated on the basis of
ascertainable beneficial and harmful
the benefits and costs they produce for
consequences of actions.
everyone in society who is affected by those
- The right action from an ethical point of view,
actions or policies.
they argued, would be the one that had the
- Utilitarianism holds that the morally right
most beneficial consequences for society or
course of action in any situation is the one
that at least minimized the harmful
that, when compared with all other possible
consequences.
actions, will produce the greatest balance of
- Mill expressed the idea in the following words:
benefits over costs for everyone affected.
“actions are right in proportion as they tend to
- This approach is sometimes referred to as a
promote happiness, wrong as they tend to
consequentialist approach to ethics because
produce the reverse of happiness.”
it focuses on whether the consequences of
- The right course of action is the one that will
our actions are good or bad.
produce the greatest amount of good for
everyone when compared with all the other
alternative courses of action; but if every
2.2.1: UTILITARIANISM AND FORD MOTOR
available course of action does more harm
COMPANY’S PINTO
than good, then the right action will be the
- Benefits and costs do not have to be one that will produce the least harm.
measured in monetary terms. Some - We can use the term UTILITY to refer to the
utilitarians have argued, for example, that an result of combining the beneficial and costly
action’s benefits should be measured by the consequences of an action.
amount of happiness or satisfaction the
The utilitarian approach can be summarized as
action produces, and its costs in terms of the
follows:
, An action is right from an ethical point of view, if and ARE ALL GOODS COMMENSURABLE?
only if, the net sum of utilities produced by that
- The utilitarian assumption that all benefits are
action is greater than the net sum of utilities
measurable implies that all benefits can be
produced by any other action the agent could have
traded for equivalents of each other.
performed in its place.
- In other words, all goods are commensurable:
- The beneficial consequences of an action for a given quantity of one good, there is
constitute its positive utility, while its costly some quantity of any other good that you
consequences comprise its negative utility. should see as equal in value to the first good.
- Notice, also, that the utilitarian principle - NON-ECONOMIC GOODS – enjoyment of love,
assumes that we can measure and add freedom, health, and parenthood.
together the quantities of benefits produced
2.2.5: UTILITARIAN REPLIES TO MEASUREMENT
by an action and then measure and subtract
OBJECTIONS
from those benefits the quantities of harms or
costs the action will produce. - Use estimates if exact measurements are
unavailable.
- Assign greater value to intrinsic goods than to
2.2.3: THE ADVANTAGES OF UTILITARIANISM instrumental goods.
- Assign greater value to satisfying needs than
UTILITARIANISM AND ECONOMICS
satisfying wants.
- Utilitarianism is also the basis of economic - Use monetary values.
cost-benefit analysis. This type of analysis is
used to determine the desirability of investing
money in a project (such as a dam, a factory 2.2.6: UTILITARIAN PROBLEMS WITH RIGHTS AND
improvement, a financial investment, or a JUSTICE
public park). It entails figuring out whether
the project’s present and future economic
benefits outweigh its costs and comparing this - The major difficulty with utilitarianism,
finding to the costs and benefits of other ways according to some critics, is that it is unable to
of investing the money deal with two kinds of moral issues: those
- Utilitarianism fits nicely with a value that related to rights and those related to justice.
many people prize: EFFICIENCY
- EFFICIENCY – it means that operating in the
manner that produces the most from a given JUSTICE AND UTILITARIANISM
number of resources, or that produces a
desired output with the lowest resource input. - Utilitarianism looks only at how much utility is
- If we read “desired output” in the place of produced in a society and fails to take into
“benefits” and “resource input” in place of account how that utility is distributed among
“cost,” utilitarianism implies that the right the members of society.
course of action is always the most efficient - Critics say that not all values can be measured
one - Utilitarians respond that monetary or other
commonsense criteria can measure
2.2.4: UTILITARIANISM’S MEASUREMENT PROBLEMS everything.
- One major set of problems with utilitarianism - Critics say utilitarianism fails with rights and
is centered on the difficulties of trying to justice.
measure utility. 2.2.7: UTILITARIAN REPLIES TO OBJECTIONS ON
- Even Mill and Bentham, the two founders of RIGHTS AND JUSTICE
utilitarianism, seem to have moved between
claiming that happiness is the only true good - RULE-UTILITARIANISM - is to limit utilitarian
and unhappiness the only true evil, and analysis to the evaluation of moral rules.
claiming that pleasure is the only true good - According to the rule-utilitarian, when trying
and pain the only true evil. to determine whether a particular action is
ethical, one is never supposed to ask whether
